Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi folks,
My turn to seek help in tying up a very frustrating loose end! I cannot find my maternal g.g.father Robert Emery in either the 1881 or 1891 censuses.

He was born in Liverpool in 1845 and I have him in the 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses. He married Mary Hamner in 1865, had a son Robert in 1867 and a daughter Harriet in 1870. His occupations for his marriage and the births are 'porter' and '(wine) bottler'. In 1877 a daughter Ellen was born and he is shown as a soldier on the cert.

Thanks to Tina's sterling effort some time ago on a related search, I have his wife Mary enumerated in 1881 under a different surname and married to a James McAnaspie. She has obviously left and shacked up elsewhere and has her children with her. There doesn't appear to have been a marriage twixt her and James.

There is no sign of husband Robert. I haven't found a trace of him in military records but suspect he was serving abroad at the time of the 1881 census.

Fast forward to 1888 and the marriage of his daughter Harriet. He is shown on her marriage cert as a 'carter'. In 1889 at the marriage of son Robert he is a 'Cab driver'. But, despite him appearing to be in a civvie job, I cannot find him in 1891.

He surfaces in the 1901 as a resident in the West Derby Union and working as a cab driver. He died there in the Infirmary in 1904. His estranged wife Mary had died in 1893. She was living with her married daughter Harriet in 1891.

I can understand him being absent for the 1881, but the 1891? I suspect an error on the enumeration form, spelling or suchlike, having come across a couple of variations like Emmery, Emary, Amery, etc. I've done more than several country-wide wild card searches to no avail.

So, any thoughts you nice peoples?
Cheers,
Dickiesam

Hi Dickiesam

Have you found James McAnapsie on other census returns? I see he and Robert are about same age... could they be the same person

Remember the Lennons everyone

Simone x

Hello Simone,
Thanks for the thought. But its definitely not the same person. I have James' death in 1890. If memory serves me right I did find him in the 1871, but didn't chase him back further because in the bloodline be would be irrelevant to me.
Cheers,
Dickiesam

If you don't get any response from me don't think it's because I'm ignoring you, I'm searching!!

I think it possible that a few of us would be interested in what was going on around 1881, where were the soldiers? and where could we find records for them? is there any chance of finding details without having to make a trip to Kew? possibly not, but worth asking the question in case anybody knows the answer.

If we knew where he had been and when he was discharged and maybe where to, it could help.

There should be something for him in the WO97 which are at Kew. These have been indexed up to 1870s and is available to search on their online catalogue. I do know that these records are being digitised to be made available as per the 1st World War attestation Papers. On my last visit to Kew last February they were being digitised then I dont know when they will be available so we will just have to wait patiently. If he was serving overseas he should show up on a passenger list so its worth having a search on that. Which Workhouse was he resident in in 1901 Mill Road or Walton? If it was Mill Road I will see if I can get his admission details and possibly get a address from where he was living and next of kin.

Just a stray thought and not perhaps a very useful one but Colette and I have gaps in 1891 for a particular section of Bootle. It is apparently because the records do not exist any more. I hope this is not true for you...

Ken

Hi everyone,
Thank you for your comments and responses. Much appreciated. In reply to Katie, Robert was in Mill Road Workhouse in the 1901. On his 1904 death cert, his place of death is shown as the West Derby Union Infirmary. Death was registered by his daughter Harriet Richardson [nee Emery].

Harriet has given his age at death as 53 which would make him born in 1851, but this has to be a mistake on her part. His given age in the 1901 matches the 1845 birth cert, his marriage cert and census entries in 1851, 61 and 71.

The cert gives an address for him, 4 Starfield Street, West Derby, so it is likely he was no longer resident in the Union when he died. I checked 4 Starfield Street in the 1901 and it is occupied by a German-born pork butcher, Alford Hausmann and his family. Anyone with a 1904 Gores or Kelly's etc?
Dickiesam